Mobile track tamper



p 1961 F. PLASSER ETAL 3,000,326

MOBILE TRACK TAMPER Filed Jan. 28, 1960 INVENTORE;

wwvz nassen JOSEF TJIIEDRBQ Unitecl States Patent 3000326 MOBILE 'IRACK TAIVIPER Franz Plasser and Josef Theurer, both cf J ohannesgasse 3, Vienna, Austria Filed Jan. 28, 1960, Ser. N0. 5,228 1 Claim. (C1. 104-12) The present invention relates to mobile machines for tamping ballast under the ties of a railroad track.

Track tatnpers with pivotally mounted tamping tool carriers are known. The main difliculty with conventional tampers of this type resides in their inefiectual positioning of the tarnping tools in the ballast. This is due to the faet that the tamping tool carriers were arranged in a freut part of the mobile carriage extending beyond the front wheels and were pivotal in a plane parallel to the track.

These machines have never been used in practice because the operator riding on the earriage had great difficulty in observing the tamping operation and thus to guide it properly. Furthermore and most irnportantly, the partieular positioning of the tarnping tools made it impossible to tamp the ballast where it is essential, i.e. under the crossing points between fies and rails Whereon the ties rest. Where the tamping tools engaged the ballast outside the rails, there was a further danger of pushing the ballast laterally outwardly where it was useless.

It is the primary objeet of the present invention to overcome these disadvantages of track tampers With pivotally mounted tamping tools and to provide a tamper whose tamping tools engage the ballast most elfectively, which can be very easily supervised by the operator and whose construction may be compact.

The above and other objects are accomplished in accordance With this invention by mounting the tamping tool carrier 011 a movable carn'age on pivot means about which the carrier may be pivoted in a vertical plane perpendicular to the track.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the tamping tool carrier has a pair of acljacent ends opposite the pivot means and a pair of tamping tools is mounted on the ends for pivoting movement into the ballast at each side of atiewith which the tamping tool carrier is aligued and in a direction from the end of the tie towa.rd the track.

Preferably, the tamping tools are axially rotatable pear-shaped bodies having a spirally-groovecl surface, such as are known from U.S. patent application Serial N0. 781,979, filed December 22, 1958. I-t is advantageous to provide each such tamping tool with a separate drive means, such as a hydraulic motor.

It may also be advantageous to mount on the carriage a track jacking means ineluding means for engaging and lifting the traek With the tie With which the tarnping tool earrier is aligned and a foot piece engaging the ballast. Such a jacking means may be pivotally mounted on the underside of the carriage and is pivotally movable from the inside toward an adjacent rail cf the track. The track jacking means may be that 01' similar to the one disclosed and claimed in our U.S. patent application Serial N0. 815,982, filed May 26, 1959.

The above and other objects, advantages and features of the present invention will appear more fully from the following detailed description of a specific embodirnent thereof, provided merely for purposes of illustration and without in any way limiting the scope of the invention.

In the accompanying drawing:

FIG. 1 is a front view of one half of a track tamper according to the invention, taken along section line A-B of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 2 is a side view of the tamper.

The invention is illustrated and particularly useful in connection with a relatively light and compaet machine which may be used, for instance, to lift and grade individual Spots along the track. T0 facilitate a ready understanding of the novel features of the invention, all conventional parts have been shown only inasmuch as they are related to the improved structure and only schematically, obvious features, such as pressure fluid conduits, va1ves and certain eontrol means being omitted entirely.

Referring now to the drawing, there is shown a carriage 1 with wheels 1' for mobility on the rails of the track which ineludes ties 21 resting on ballast 22 which is to be tamped, particularly under the ties where the rails cross the ties.

The carriage supports a frame 2 on which there is fixedly mounted a cross beam 3 extending in the direetion of the *track. Tamping tool carrier 4 has two bushings 3a which are journaled on the cross bearn Whereby the eross beam constitutes a pivot means for pivoting the tamping t001 earrier in a vertical plane perpendicular to the track.

In the illustrated embodiment, the tamping tool carrier is a forked framework consisting of two arcuate pipes, the free ends of the pipes opposite the pivot means being adjacent t0 each other and carrying tamping tools 5. As shown, the tarnping tools may be pivoted from an inoperative osition (see broken lines in FIG. 1) into the ballast at each side 0f a r.ie With which the tamping tool carrier is aligned (see FIG. 2).

Preferably, the tamping tools are pear-shaped, axially rotatable bodies with a spirally-grooved surfaee and each tool is associated with a separate drive means, such as a hydraulic motor reeeiving pressure fluid through a hose connection (not shown) with a pressure fluid pump (not shown) mounted on the carriage. A useful tarnping tool of this type is described and claimed in above-mentioned U.S. patent application Serial N0. 781,979 but the invention is obviously not limited to this type of tools.

The tamping tool carrier may be pivoted about its pivot means 3 by a pressure fluid operated mechanism. The illustrated meehanism includes a pressure fluid cylinder 7 Wh0se one chamber carries a compression spring 10 and whose other chambei may be supplied with pressure fluid, for instance hydraulic liquid, through couduit 32. The cylinder charnbers are separated by piston 8 fixedly conneeted .to piston rod 9 whose outwardly extending end is jonrnaled to a connecting rod 25 comstituting a brace between the two arcuate arms of ca:- rier 4. The other cylinder end is journaled to a cross beam 24 mounted on earriage frame 2 parallel to cross beam 3. The cornpression spring 10 -is biased to press piston 8 outwardly and thus to rnaintain the tamping tool carrier in its imperative, raised position. When pressure fluid is supplied to the cylinder through couduit 32 to overeome the bias of spring 10, the tarnping tools are pivoted in the direction of the tie from its end inwardly toward the rail 20.

The traek tamper may also include a pivotal track jacking rneans, the illustrated embodiment being similar to that shown in FIG. 1 of our U.S patent application Serial N0. 815,982, filed May 26, 1959. As shown, the track jacking means may be laterally pivoted between an operative position (shown in broken lines in FIG. 1) and a rest position (shown in full lines in FIG. 1) rernovecl from the track.

The jacking means comprises a cylinder 11 carrying at its lower end a laterally extending rail lift member 26 fixedly attached to the lift cylinder and adapted to subtend and support rail 20 when the jacking rneans is in its operative position. The cylinder is pivotally supportecl on a bracket 27 on the underside of the carriage. In tl:u's

manner, the cylinder is pivotally movable from the inside toward the adjacent rail 20. Piston 12 With the piston rod 13 is slidably guided in cylinder 11, the unter end of the piston rod extending downwardlyand carrying a foot piece 14 which engages and bears upon ballast 22 in the operative position cf the jacking means. Spiral compression spring 15 is mounted in the lower cylinder chamber to bias the piston 12 upwardly. A conduit (not shown) is connected to the upper lift cylinder charnber to supply pressure fluid, such as. a hydraulic liquid, to the upper cylinder chamber whereby the piston may be forced downwardly against the spring bias.

'I'hejacking means is laterally pivotal out f range of the track to enable the carriage to move frorn rrack tie to track tie without interference from the jacking means. The latter pivoting means includes a cylinder 16 slidably supporting a piston 17 with its piston rod 18; A conduit 28 supplies pressure fluid to one chamber f the cylinder While the opposite chamber houses spiral compression spring 19 to bias the piston; inwardly. T he outer end of the piston rod 18 is linked to a laterally extending lug 29 of cylinder 16. One end of the cylinder is journaled at 30 on cross bean1 31 fixedly mounted on carriage frame 2 parallel to cross beams 3 and 24. This pivotal connection enables cylinder 16 to follow the pivoting movement cf lift cylinder 11 when the pivoting cylinder is operated by applying pressure fluid through conduit 28 to counteract the bias of spring 19 and to force the j acking means into its vertical position.

The entire operation is controlled frompanel 23 operated by an operator sitting 011 chair 33. The carriage is moved to a tie '21 to be tamped and the entire Operation may be snpervised from a position which permits unusually good visibility, as Will be noted from the drawing.

The operator will stop the caniage in a position where the tamping tool ca1rier pivots 3:1' are vertically above tie 21. In this position, he Will actnate the pressure fluid supply to cylinder 7 to pivot the tamping tool carrier into its operative position, the p ivoting movement pushing the tamping tools slowly into the ballast and pnshing the ballast laterally inwardly toward the point under the tie where the rail rests on the tie.

Through operation of the track jacking means, the track is -lifted to its desired grade soihat the tamping Will fix the track at a predetermined level. After The tamping operation is completed, the pressure fluid supply is cut off from the various cylinders, either by action of the operator or automatically according to a set program, thus causing Withdrawal of foot piece 14 from the ballast and pivoting of the jacking means and the tamping tools from their operative into their rest positions, whereupon the machine is ready for movement to the next tie t0 be tamped. V

The advantages of this machine are obvious from the above description. Thus, the tarnping tools, which move laterally from the end of the tie tbward the track, take ballast With thern as they move into their operating posi tions and produce a particularly effective ballast support for the rails. The operator is in a position where he may closely control the pivoting movement of the tarnping tools so that they engage the ballast exactly where tamping is most needed, the location of the operator being immediately adjacent the pivoting tamping tool carrier on the carriage, where the operation of the clamp ing tools may be closely observed. The entire machine requires little spacefor its operating parts and, therefore, is compact as well as relatively light.

While the invention has been described in connection With a specific embodiment, it will be obvious to the skilled in the art that many variations and modifications are possible without departing from the spirit and scope cf the invention as defined in the appended claim.

What we claim is:

A machine for tamping ballast under des supporting the rails of a railroad track, cornprising a carriage With Wheels for mobility on the track, a tamping tool carrier having a pair of adjacent ends, pivot means mounted 011 said carriage between the rails and extending parallel to the track, the tampi1i1g 1001 carrier be'mg journaled on the pivot means opposite said ends for pivoting the tamping tool carrier in a vertical plane perpenclicnlar to the track, and a pair 0f tamping tools mounted 011 said ends for pivoting movernent into the ballast at each side of a tie With which the tamping tool carrier is aligned and in a. direction from the end of thetie toward the track, the tamping tools being inclined toward the tie.

References Cite d in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Austria Jan. 10. 1959 

